U of Illinois plans to add 500 professors

Urbana - University of Illinois
Chancellor Phyllis Wise says she wants to hire
500 professors over the next five to seven years to beef up a faculty depleted
by retirements and departures.

Wise told faculty members and staff at a
town hall meeting Monday that the faculty hiring plan is part of an initiative
intended to turn the university's flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign into the
top public land-grant university for research. Wise is the top administrator of
the campus.

The campus' tenured faculty has dropped
from about 2,100 in 2007-08 to 1,856. Retirements, departures for jobs elsewhere
and hiring freezes are responsible for the drop.

Administrators said Monday that
the university also wants to continue with $70 million in classroom
renovations.